How to use S Memo on the Samsung Galaxy S4

If you need to take notes on your new Samsung Galaxy S4, the S Memo app will have you covered.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 comes preloaded with a notes application called S Memo. It supports typed, drawn, audio, image, map, and clip art content, which can then be shared out through various apps and channels. We’ll give you the full tour so you can get the most out of this handy little app.

When you first boot up S Memo, you’re presented with the option to open an existing note by tapping it, or to start a new note. Tap the pencil icon in the top-right to start a new drawn note, or the “T” icon for a new text note. The only real difference is the kinds of backgrounds the notes have.

Starting with the drawn notes, you’ve got some options along the top. First are the pen settings, which you can access by tapping the pen icon in the top-left. That icon will preview which color and pen type you’re using. When tapped, you can dictate exactly what kind of mark you leave on the page. The first window provides a preview. Tap the plus icon in the top-right of that preview to save it as a preset for easy access later on in the right side pane.

The next pane down shows five different pen types to chose from: fine point pen, small brush, large brush, pencil, and highlight. Below that is a slider to adjust the thickness of the brush. The highlighter also has an opacity slider. Below that is a color picker, and by tapping the triangle below it, you can have a finer selection of colors.

The next button at the top, a capital “T”, initiates text input. You can tap anywhere on the screen where you’d like to start typing. The next button at the top is the eraser tool, which lets you rub out brushstrokes. Tap it a second time to access a brush size slider or clear everything on the screen. The next two icons allow you to undo the last action you made or redo a previously undone action. Then at the top-right there are the Cancel and Save buttons. From Cancel you can discard the note you’ve been working, while the save button will let you punch in a filename and save it for later.

The button in the bottom-left toggles the page into view mode, so you can pan and zoom around your note without editing it. Be sure to tap it again to go back to editing. The next button allows you to insert an image (either stored locally or a new one shot from the camera), anything copied to the clipboard, a location from Google Maps, or clip art (such as thought bubbles, post-it notes and other graphics). After these graphics are placed, they can be rotated or deleted with buttons that float above them, or resized with the eight points in the box around it. Remember that you can often drop items into S Memo from the global Share menu in outside apps.

The third button at the bottom initiates voice notes. Tap it, then the record button. While recording, you can stop, pause, or discard a recording. After recording, you can replay, delete, or replace the recording. The final button in the bottom-right lets you add another page to the note, which can be important when the page fills up, or you just need to save another voice note. Switch pages by swiping left or right and see which page you're on at the bar along the bottom.

That’s the full tour of S Memo on the Samsung Galaxy S4. As you can see, there are plenty of functions available. If you’re having trouble with anything in S Memo, be sure to let us know in the comments, and we’ll see what we can do for you.